“Why are you suddenly speaking formally to me…?”
“Then you should speak formally to me as well, young lady. From now on, do not call me by my name privately within the castle.”
“…Flora…?”
“Try to understand the first time. You’ve always needed someone to spell things out for you.”
Flora tilted her eyebrow and grasped her hand tightly.
“It will be rather difficult for me to be on informal terms with you now, young lady. You understand what I mean, don’t you?”
A future duchess and the daughter of a mere viscount are not of the same standing, are we?
The young lady who had come running turned deathly pale, yet Flora’s expression remained infinitely tender.
“Well then, young lady, I shall invite you for tea sometime. Come to the castle then.”
Feeling the gazes of the young noble lords pouring down upon her, Flora threw her shoulders back even further. Instead of the lovely smile she always wore, she donned an expression of careless authority, just like a marchioness.
Her steps were lighter than ever before. The vast castle felt more comfortable than it ever had, and intoxicated by the elation, she felt as though she were walking on clouds.
Even stepping into the damp, chilly underground dungeon, she felt no fear. Rather, a thrilling delight surged through her. Because she could not contain her curiosity about how that wench who had fawned all over the Duke had gone mad, what state she was in.
If anything, she hoped the girl had gone truly, hideously mad—mad enough that His Grace would lose all affection the moment he laid eyes on her.
But as she turned onto the stairs leading to the solitary cell, Flora tilted her head. It was eerily silent. Usually, lunatics let out bizarre wails and muttered incessantly. Could that woman have gone quietly mad?
“Miss Leuwen, please mind your step.”
Flora descended the stairs so urgently that a maid subtly cautioned her.
“She is alive, is she not?”
“Yes.”
The soldier who had peered inside through the window unlocked the solitary cell where Grace was imprisoned. Flora’s eyes sparkled in the darkness.
Her heart pounded.
Please, please, let her have gone completely mad.
While she repeated the unspeakable wish inwardly, the door to the solitary cell opened. But the darkness did not lift, and Grace’s figure was not immediately visible.
“Shine the light, quickly!”
Flora, anxious for no reason, cried out sharply, and the soldier hastily thrust a torch inside. The flame flickering in the wind melted away the black curtain that had been draped across.
As the curtain burned away, the solitary cell that had driven every prisoner mad unfolded before Flora’s eyes. The expression of the princess of Richmond’s social circles, who had grown up seeing only beautiful things, twisted violently. It was not because of the bizarre aura the interior of the cell exuded.
The elation that had thrilled her until now vanished like a mirage, and it felt as though an icy hand had brushed her heart, leaving her chest to sink coldly.
Unconsciously, Flora clenched her molars.
Grace sat leaning against the wall, slumped as if exhausted. But not a trace of madness lingered in her eyes.
“The wretched woman…!”
The woman she had hoped would go mad had endured hell after all.
* * *
Unlike the marquis, who had been in good spirits since early morning, the marchioness’s mood was quite foul. There was no particular reason.
Was it because Flora Leuwen had appeared wearing an ill-fitting dress and offered to bring Grace herself? Or was it her hair twisted up as if imitating the marchioness, or the large gemstone ring worn in a vulgar attempt at elegance, that displeased her?
In any case, there was no reason to refuse, and since she had no wish to visit the cold, damp underground solitary cell, she permitted Flora’s proposal.
There was no need to verify the madness of the harlot who had bewitched the Duke. The one who had provided the means was no ordinary person.
“One who has inhaled the smoke from the burning stick will appear to sleep the whole time—never wake them. Though they may look asleep on the outside, they are wandering through a hell so terrible that going mad would be preferable. And by the time consciousness returns, their reason will have vanished, leaving only madness.”
“For something so precious… Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress.”
“I am grateful that you and your husband govern Richmond so well. Sometimes such things are necessary in ruling. Ah, yes. It is the amount for a single person, so be sure to use it only when truly necessary.”
She did not know exactly what the stick’s contents were, but since it was an item Hetby had received directly from the Empress, it was surely trustworthy.
Everything was flowing according to plan.
The marchioness deliberately adorned herself in flashy black. She wore a dress with sleek feather decorations reminiscent of a crow’s wings, and around her slightly exposed neck hung the black pearl necklace Eliza Richmond had particularly cherished. Her elegantly twisted-up hair was pinned in place with a lavish feather pin dyed black.
In the mirror stood a mistress as gorgeous and elegant as Eliza Richmond herself.
“Splendid.”
Her gloomy mood seemed to improve somewhat. But the moment she entered the hall before the marquis, that mood flipped as quickly as the turn of a hand.
A black tiger had seized the grand hall. Though he ought to have shown impatience and anxiety, the palely young Duke instead exuded composure.
Moreover, the knightly house members who had rushed in since the hours before dawn were radiating a savage, ferocious aura without filter, throwing their weight behind the Duke. At that barbarous momentum, the nobles supporting House Rinko were merely watching their step.
The marchioness found the situation displeasing. She had hoped her husband would arrive and turn the tables, but having appeared late, he seemed overwhelmed by the Duke’s momentum rather than curbing it.
She could no longer sit idle. She sprang from her seat and stepped out before her husband, who stood stock-still.
“Your Grace! Please forgive my impertinence. But for over ten years, while the late Duchess sequestered herself due to a grave illness of the heart, I have devoted my entire being to safeguarding the inner keep of House Richmond. Thus, I dare to speak a word; please hear me.”
At that, the Duke gestured with his chin as if to say, go ahead.
The marchioness wet her dry lips with her tongue and mustered her emotions. Today, she had to be the benevolent mistress who truly loved and cherished everything of Richmond.
“I cherish every servant who works at Richmond Ducal Castle. Among them, the dead maids were children I held especially dear. They were not special only to me. They were precious daughters and kind sisters. Right now, their families have come to the castle.”
Tears fell before they could even gather, and her voice choked up tight.
“I met with the bereaved families and said I would provide compensation for the deaths. But they wept and said they did not need money. What use is money when a cherished daughter is dead, they said. Instead, they begged me to catch the culprit who killed their daughters and satisfy their vengeance.”
The marchioness dabbed her streaming tears with a handkerchief handed to her by a maid.
“I know that feeling. It is precisely the feeling I felt before the grave of the previous Duchess.”
She was extremely satisfied with her restrained performance.
But Crimson Isaac, who had witnessed the marchioness’s tears up close, quietly rolled his eyes toward the head seat. The Duke sat with one hand cupping his chin and mouth, watching the marchioness through narrowed eyes.
The brothers’ conversation suddenly came to mind.
“Hyung-nim, that expression of His Grace. It means he’s fed up and can’t listen anymore, right?”
“No, Andy.”
“Then what is it?”
“It means ‘stop talking nonsense.’ You best be careful when he makes that face.”
As Andrew’s and Sirius’s voices rang out in turn, the marquis raised his voice, as if thinking this was his moment.
“Your Grace!! Allow me to speak plainly before this assembly of all Richmond retainers!! Inside Richmond Ducal Castle, there are ‘the Unseen’—enemies of Richmond and foes of the Empire!!”
At the marquis’s resolute declaration, the knightly house nobles turned to the Duke, and the marquis-faction nobles began exchanging words among themselves as if united. As the previously quiet hall churned like waves, the marquis shouted even more thunderously, as if trying to make up for having been overwhelmed by the Duke.
“Beyond the Wall of Death, wicked villains in league with demons killed the pitiable maids who served Richmond and even threatened Your Grace’s safety!!”
“Marquis Rinko! Who is that despicable person?!”
One of the marquis-faction nobles threw out the question like catching wind, and the marquis swept his gaze over the room regretfully before speaking.
“Regrettably… it is highly likely to be the lover Your Grace brought, and her maid.”
At that, Count Isaac rose from his seat and asked.
“Have you proof?”
Ignoring the count’s question, the marquis spoke toward the Duke in a grieved tone.
“You must be greatly discomforted in many ways, but for Richmond’s sake, the truth of this matter must be revealed, so I ask for your generous understanding. Of course, Your Grace must also be torn between the desire to trust your beloved and your doubts….”
“I say, Marquis.”
The Duke, silent until now, cut the marquis off mid-sentence. His unusually low voice seemed to scrape the pit of their stomachs.
He spoke in a very calm tone.
“On one side, weeping and wailing; on the other, talk of wanting to trust and having doubts—it is long-winded. Lengthy preambles are tedious, so let us both omit them. Let us proceed directly to the main point.”
Both the marquis, who had prepared a lengthy speech, and the marchioness, who had been leaning on a maid and sobbing, blinked in blank expressions.
Judged by content alone, it was no different from being bludgeoned with words, yet his expression and tone were so indifferent that they could not quickly form a judgment. While the couple rolled their eyes and looked at each other, the Duke who had driven them into confusion spoke again.
“Ah, yes. Before that, let us review and move past the main point of contention in this council.”